CIRCuIT’s Helsinki partners have published their latest research on resident’s views on housing adaptability in Building & Cities.
The study “Residents’ views on adaptable housing: a virtual reality-based study” by Jyrki Tarpio and Satu Huuhka from Tampere University, School of Architecture uses virtual reality to explore whether and what kind of value residents place on adaptable housing.
Adaptability is often seen as a focal feature for socially, economically and environmentally sustainable housing that primarily benefits residents, but to date, the level of demand from residents has remained largely unknown. The research, situated in Finland, combines interviews involving seven varied households together with their experiences of adaptable flats in a 3D CAVE immersive virtual reality environment.
The social benefits of building adaptability include enabling residents to customise housing to suit their lifestyles and changing requirements over time. In addition, building adaptability is recognised as a key environmental circularity strategy by helping extend a building’s life, allowing it to remain in service for longer, reducing materials consumption through time, helping improve circularity ambitions for the built environment.
The study revealed that participants saw value in many adaptability characteristics that were demonstrated to them in 3D CAVE, such as two entrances, flat divisibility and systematic floor plan transformability. These insights into housing attitudes may help inform changes to future residential building design to incorporate greater adaptability principles.
To access the study, click here.
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